Professor, Department of Urology
Associate Director, Urologic Oncology Fellowship Program
Carol and Louis Della Penna Chair in Urologic Oncology
Bladder Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Urethral Cancer, Adrenal Tumor, Penile Cancer, Ureteral Cancer, Kidney Cancer, Testicular Cancer
Urinary Diversions, Minimally Invasive Surgical Techniques - Laparoscopic, Robotic Surgery, Robotic Surgery and Urologic cancer ablation therapy (cryoablation, HIFU, IRE/Nanoknife)
I am a urologic oncologist specializing in surgical treatment of cancers of the genitourinary tract. I have extensive experience with laparoscopic and minimally invasive surgical techniques and apply these approaches routinely to reduce the pain, recovery time, and complications associated with traditional open surgery.
I am skilled in nerve-sparing and organ-reconstructive surgery essential for preserving normal functions when treating prostate, testis, bladder and kidney cancer. I am sensitive to the particular issues regarding the diagnosis of genitourinary cancer and its subsequent treatment, including its physical and emotional effects on the patient and their family and support system.
I recognize each person is unique and requires a treatment individually tailored to them to achieve successful cancer treatment, limited treatment-related side effects and maintained quality of life.
MD, Weill Cornell Medical Center, Cornell University, New York, NY, 1997
I’m 68 years old and a very active person. When I’m not busy working as a lawyer for a firm in Bucks County, which is just north of Philadelphia, you can find me riding my bike, playing and watching sports, or traveling with my wife, Caroline. I’ve never been the wait-and-see type.
Being diagnosed with prostate cancer did not come as a complete shock. Cancer in various forms has been one of the generational realities on my mother’s side of the family, and my own history going back decades has included treatment of a series of skin malignancies, most notably, a stage 2 melanoma. So with an uncle who had also been diagnosed with prostate cancer in his early seventies, I figured it was just a matter of time before I would be dealing with the same issue.
I felt that I was in the hands of a knowledgeable and extremely competent surgeon at a superior facility.
When the urologist did an MRI, he found that instead of a cyst, it was a tumor on the kidney and he suggested I have my kidney removed. I was not too sure about having it completely removed and a cousin who had been working for Fox Chase for over 40 years suggested I get a second opinion with a doctor there.
Correa AF, Handorf E, Joshi SS, Geynisman DM, Kutikov A, Chen DY, Uzzo RG, Viterbo R, Greenberg RE, Smaldone MC. Differences in Survival Associated with Performance of Lymph Node Dissection in Patients with Invasive Penile Cancer: Results from the National Cancer Database. J Urol, 199(5):1238-44, 2018. PubMed
Martin JM, Handorf EA, Price RA, Cherian G, Buyyounouski MK, et al. Medical dosimetry : official journal of the American Association of Medical Dosimetrists. 2015; 40(3):186-9. NIHMSID: NIHMS656177 PubMed
Hypoalbuminaemia is associated with mortality in patients undergoing cytoreductive nephrectomy. Corcoran AT, Kaffenberger SD, Clark PE, Walton J, Handorf E, et al. BJU international. 2015; 116(3):351-7. PubMed
Patient comments
Dr. Chen listens to my concerns and treats me with the utmost respect.
While listening to my treatment goals, he addressed any questions I had and also offered alternatives.
David Chen MD is very caring and listens to all my concerns as well as answering all questions.
My doctor Dr Chen has always been upfront very caring concerned about my health his teams are always been very nice and the assistance also everyone works well together for my care
Fighter always shows concern in care for my health and yes I was ask ed about my decision on taking an MRI or the next treatment I trust my doctor Chen